As a SEO Instructor I am often ask by my students; “How can I take what I’ve learned in your workshop and apply it to my business, plus find a real value in offering search engine optimizationto my clients?”

My answer to this question is always the same:

* First you need to be confident in your SEO skills.
* Second you need to be able to show your customers examples of your ranking results.
* Third you need to be honest and not play up on any industry hype to sell your client on search engine optimization.

If you follow those 3 simple step rules you will not need to prove anything to your clients you will earn their respect instantly and they will want to use your professional services.

Let’s take a closer look into how you can find value in your SEO Certification.

1. Education – Laying the foundation to a career as a Professional SEO is the same as any other job skill you want to acquire. Finding an institution or training facility that offers what you’re looking for is half the battle. There are many different organizations that offer training in search engine optimization your job, in the research phase, is to find a program that is backed by a good solid reputation of industry standards.

a. Is the program backed by any education institutions?b. Are the instructors SEO Experts themselves?

c. Is the material updated consistently with industry changes?

2. Job Opportunities – At the time of this article there where over 12 pages of companies looking to hire SEO Consultants and Internet Marketers on CareerBuilder.com. Most of these companies where looking for individuals who understood search engine optimization and marketing and could implement the latest techniques and strategies into an existing web site. Now SEO Professionals are being taken seriously. Companies are seeing a real need for certified employees.

3. Spreading the Word – A large part of the world still does not even know what engine optimization is all about or how it applies to them. One of the first things you can do as a new SEO firm is to provide valuable information, on your site about optimization and the benefits it can hold for your customers on the Web. Become the industry expert to your customers.

4. Industry Recognition – Businesses are becoming more aware of the top training facilities across the country. SEO Firms that advertise they are SEO Certified and can back those certifications by proven results are sought after daily. Post your credentials where they can be found, they do hold value.

5. Understand the Art & Science of SEO – There is definitely a difference between the art and science of SEO. Are you using both factors? Can you explain both to your customers? Everyone can logically perform the science of SEO (title tags, body text, link text etc.) but very few SEO’s know and understand the art of SEO. Be creative with each Website you work on. All sites are different and there are different factors on each site that can and should be explored. Show your customers that you can think more laterally (outside the box) when it comes to their online presence. One small thing like setting up a blog and showing them how to use it (a factor in the art of seo) can set your company apart from the rest.

6. Choosing the Right Clients – Research, research and research some more. I can not stress enough just how important this is in choosing the right clients. You want customers you can make a true difference with. Those clients that give you limited access, or are set on using the keyword list they provide you are not the customers you really have the option to make a difference with. You need to find customers that allow you to research and implement their customers search behaviors. Are you only optimizing for the keyword phrases your customer provided you or are you looking more closely and trying to determine search behaviors? If you take into account behaviors of the searchers you will find a true value in your SEO skills.

7. Long Term Business Relationships – Word of mouth and return customers are the best way you as a business owner can validate your profession. Resist from making promises you can not back up and remember the best plan of attack is to under promise and over deliver. Set your goals realistic. For example: You know with your research you should easily be able to achieve a first page ranking in less than 6 weeks. Tell your customer you anticipate seeing results in 3 months and that you are hoping for a page 2 or 3 result. (If their current results are no where to be found this will be a huge result for them.) When the results happen quicker and a much higher ranking your customer will be ecstatic and will be anxious to share the news with all of their friends. Viral marketing has just been put in place and you are long on the way to keeping that valuable customer.

8. Results over Certification – Even though the Certification that hangs on your wall will give you the knowledge and confidence you need to perform your internet marketing services it is in no comparison to the actual result you can share with someone. Customers like to see proof. They want to see that you have been able to make a top ranking with another company. Show them ranking results. Record all of your efforts. Run before and after ranking reports. These reports are valuable when meeting with a new client.

9. Re-Certification – The Internet world changes on a daily bases. What may have worked this year may not be the same techniques that will work next year. There are strategies that some SEO’s may have put in place that are now considered spam so it is vital that your certificate be kept current. Check with your training provider and be certain that they keep advice you on any changes that may take place. Ask if they offer re-certification or additional training modules to keep your skills up to date. Nothing looks worse and is detrimental to your image then advertising an out of date certificate. Let your customers know that you are dedicated to keeping their Web site ranking in the search engines by continuing your search engine optimization and marketing education.

10. Setting Standards – As a SEO Specialist you are setting a personal standard for yourself. Your certified credentials prove that you have the skills necessary to achieve results. You are showing that you have been trained in the latest techniques and strategies used today. Keep your entire methods completely white hat. Never result to black hat techniques and continue to build your SEO skills in the utmost professional manner.

In conclusion only you can find the true value in your certification. It all depends on how much time and energy you want to put into building a solid SEO business? Take time to gain confidence in your skills as an optimizer, spend energy in providing outstanding customer support and leave all the industry hype to the others.

One last tip… The most important tip I can give you is to build your ranking examples and remember to combine the Art & Science of SEO. Concentrate on these two elements and you will find a great deal of value in your SEO Certification and so will your customers.

“They were can-do, make-do-with-what-you-have people,” says Sanders, 50, in a drawl that hints of rural stock, “and I guess I inherited the same self-reliance from them.”

Sanders lives on a 40-acre farm in Shoals, Ind. The farm has been in his family more than 100 years, and it has been his homestead since 1977.

Sanders, his wife, Patti, and their children — Jordan, 17, Robby, 15, and Maggie, 12 — seem to have everything they need on their 40 acres — a garden, a small orchard, timber and enough pasture for raising their beef cattle.

And that’s pretty much how he got into writing books.

Come again?

“It seems I was always trying to make stuff work around the farm and didn’t always have enough money to do things the way I wanted to do them,” said Sanders, whose 9-to-5 job is as an officer with the Indiana State Department of Conservation.

Sanders figured others could benefit from his knowledge, which is how some of his projects became articles in Backwoods Home, an Oregon-based magazine that promotes homeowner self-reliance.

Some of those articles became the foundation for a manuscript Sanders sent to Peter Burford, publisher of Burford Books in Springfield, N.J., which specializes in the outdoors, sports, nature, travel, gardening and military history. Burford liked the manuscript, so those can-do, make-do ways ended up as Sanders’ first book, The Self-Reliant Homestead: A Book of Country Skills, published in 2003.

In February, Sanders hit the shelves with The PVC Project Book: 101 Uses for PVC Pipe in the Home, Garden, Farm and Workshop. “In my first book, I actually had a section for working with PVC,” he said. “I always seem to have some extra pieces around. Then Peter [Burford] asked me if I had enough projects on PVC to write a book about it.”

Turns out, he had more than enough. Of the new book’s 101 PVC items, which range from holders for yard tools, fishing rods and glue guns to frames for signs, banners and hunting targets, about 70 percent of them are his own.

“The others I got from talking with friends who, like me, have reason to make things around the house or barn.”

Since I could not get reservations at the French Laundry, I decided to visit an up and coming “new” restaurant in Napa called Ubuntu.  Self-described as a “vegetable” restaurant, not vegetarian, Ubuntu brings a fresh approach to serving seasonal vegetables in an exciting way.  You will not find any meat on the menu here and we really did not miss it.  The combination of flavors and textures, the elegant plating and the relaxed atmosphere of the restaurant will keep me coming back.  As I left the restaurant, I told my friend that if I lived anywhere near this place, it would be a second home to me.  I enjoyed it THAT much.

left: carrot and orange juice with spiced rim
right: salt-roasted beets and horseradish mousse, orange, dill and Indonesian cubeb pepper (US$9.00)

Crunchy radishes with local chevre, mustard and banyuls vinaigrette, maldon salt (US$9.00).

left: UBUNTU greens dressed with bourbon maple, pear & almond chutney, px vinegar (US$8.00)
right: chickpeas with manchego, olive vinaigrette, pepper quenelles with mint & breadcrumbs (US$9.00)

left: cauliflower in a cast iron pot, roast-puree-”couscous”, vadouvan spice, toast (US$13.00)
right: fregola: toasted pearl pasta in mushroom broth, pea tendrils, young carrots, green garlic (US$14.00, half)

potato puree, Robuchon style, with a slow egg, UBUNTU leaks with warm sherry vinaigrette (US$12.00)

left: winter citrus float, kieffer lime-lemograsss soda, grapefruit sherbet (US$8.00)
right: hot chocolate infused with teeccino with stroopwafel, foamed condensed milk (US$4.00)

vanilla bean “cheesecake” in a jar, sour cherries, pine nut sable (US$8.00)

Ubuntu Restaurant and Yoga Studio
1140 Main Street
Napa, California
Telephone: 707.251.5656

In these free woodworking plans, find a terrific project you can complete with your kids: a bamboo wind chime. While there are some steps of this project that you probably will want to complete yourself (for safety), it is a perfect opportunity to spend time with your kids in the wood shop and not only teach them woodworking skills, but build a memorable project at the same time.Bamboo wind chimes can be quite expensive if you buy them in a store. In these Free Woodworking Plans: Bamboo Wind Chime, learn how to build a beautiful bamboo wind chime for a fraction of the cost you’d pay in a store. To top it off, it is a woodworking project you can build with your kids, which will make it all the more special every time you hear the dulset melodic tones in a light summer breeze.

Such drugs can be defined via drug tests:

• the Drugs made of a poppy (opium drugs, including morphinum and heroin)
• Tetrahydrocannabinol (alcoid of  Cánnabis)
• Cocaine and a crack, the free basis of cocaine
• Ephedron (methcathinone, lurkmore) and ephedrinum
• MetaDon (a type of opium drugs)
• Extazy (MDMA), and also MDA, amphetamine type of extazy
• Codeine, derivatives of Codeine
• Amphetamine (fenamin, lurkmore)
• And many other kinds of psychotropic substances and narcotic preparations.

Not quite to play but rather, to put her on display!

There are days that mark our life and this one was her first,

The family all gathered as we took her into church.

We called her for her grannies, with a little variation

And so it was that she was known until her own abbreviation!

The tablecloth it was not plain and made with loving care

By a granny that she never knew, no longer round to share.

The tablecloth was crocheted in cotton years before

It spent near half a life time, lying in a drawer.

Now freshly washed and smelling sweet it was a perfect square

And it looked just right, on our wee mite, as we took her through the door.

A bright June morning the sun was high with singing in the choir

Our hearts near burst with happiness, with our darling hearts desire.

Then she grew up!

This is the tablecloth that I used as a shawl.

Once I decided to use the tablecloth for a shawl I set about finding a pattern to crochet a dress for my little bundle of joy.  I did not want a dress a mile longer than my 18inch baby so adapted a pattern for a woolen dress.

Elly just four weeks old in the only photo I have of her taken on the day.

Our photographer for the day didn’t make it – his car broke down and it was before the days of digital cameras.  I came across the outfit while clearing a drawer last week and gave it a wash.  It is amazingly white even after all this time.  To show it off properly I went in search of a baby sized doll.  Not a difficult task you would think.

The first doll I borrowed was from a school pal of Elly’s and was the correct size and vintage.  There was only one problem… the eyes were damaged and the young ladies father had replaced them with marbles.  All the photos I took made them look like cats eyes!  No way could I use a full face so I cropped the photos accordingly.

The pattern I worked from also had a pair of pants:

The pants may look bulky but not with a nappy on under them.

One day while out I saw a new baby goods shop and called in to see if they had a doll for display puropses.  No they didn’t but the assistant promised to bring her daughters doll in the following day.  It was a little smaller than the original one but I managed to take a photo.

I took this photo on the floor in the shop!

So to the girls in Rock-a-Baby who were so helpful I say thank you.

In this post we are going to cover the five quick steps you can take to make sure your new cPanel dedicated server is ready to handle your new websites. While we handle the initial installation of the operating system and configuration of the network interfaces, there are still a few steps to take before the cPanel dedicated server is ready.

1. Completing the initial cpanel server setup when you first login.

Most people tend to move through this critical step just clicking on the defaults, and in some cases that’s okay. But, there are a few very useful options to fill out here that will make your life much easier in the long run. First, make sure that the server’s hostname and primary/secondary nameserver entries are correct. cPanel will try attempt to configure most of this for you based on the hostname that we set in the initial setup, but it’s still a good idea to double-check this setting. Second, make sure to setup a contact email address for your cPanel dedicated servers. A SingleHop cPanel dedicated server will notify you of problems quickly so you can react before things get out of hand, or call in to our support line so we can check the problem out for you.

2. Running Apache Update for your cPanel Servers

This step is very important for the setup of your secure cPanel dedicated server, as it will dictate the types of PHP scripts and commands that can be used on your sites. Using the interface is fairly easy, all you need to do is check the appropriate boxes for the PHP version and modules that you need and then click “Start Build”. It’s very important that you do not close the browser window while this is working, as the process will need to be restarted if you do. It should be completed in anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, but if it takes longer than an hour or fails you should notify our support so we can troubleshoot the problem in your setup of your cPanel dedicated server.

3. Creating Packages for your cPanel dedicated server Accounts

Some only think this should apply if you intend to use the cPanel dedicated server to host others websites, but we see it as a quick and easy way to ensure that your sites don’t consume all of the resources for your cPanel Dedicated server. This can be setup from the Package Manager in WHM and only takes a few minutes to do. Doing this will allow your sites can be setup quickly and efficiently, while also guaranteeing that there will be ample resources available for your other sites.

4. Check out the Security Center in WHM

This is probably one of the most overlooked sections in WHM, but it has the possibility for enabling a greater level of security for your secure cPanel dedicated server. First off, click on the Compilers Tweak section and only enable compiler access for the users that need it like ‘root’ and ‘apache’. One user that should never need access to the compilers is the user ‘nobody’. Many common exploits depend on a working C/C++ compiler on the target system to work, enabling this tweak will disallow that from happening. Second, the SMTP Tweak and Shell Fork Bond Protection should both be enabled. The first prevents unauthorized users from bypassing the mail server to send mail, which is a common trick for most spammers. The second will keep a user with SSH access from crippling your server with a fork bomb that will consume most of the servers available resources and possible crash the server.

5. Configuring Backups to your cPanel Dedicated Server

We all know how important a good backup hosting can be, and setting them up on our cPanel dedicated servers is very simple. Just login to WHM and go to Backup, then Configure Backup and check the Enabled box. After that, you can choose the length for backup retention and the days you want it to run. The default settings work for most people, but some may need to tailor it to fit specific needs like total free disk space. As an added bonus, backups can be setup to transfer files to an off-server FTP account on one of our backup servers. Also, the backup script is setup to run at night as well to conserve resources and maintain the integrity of your cPanel dedicated server.

Green to Grow, in the most fundamental sense, did not start as an idea for a company. It began with their commitment, as parents, to the gathering of information that would allow them to provide the best possible care for their son, to keep him healthy, and to protect him from as many dangers as they could. What they found, and continue to find in their research, is both appalling and inspiring. Appalling because humans have created an astounding array of dangers for ourselves, and especially for our children. Inspiring because there is deep and widespread commitment to addressing these dangers and to promoting healthy alternatives.

Creating a line of bisphenol A free baby bottles was their way of taking direct action where they saw a need. But while addressing a single concern is a positive step, they believe their responsibility cannot end there. In order to address the problems associated with the effects of toxic chemicals on human health and on the environment, theymust join together with the larger community of those who are working for a greener and safer world. Not just for their children, though they are certainly the most vulnerable in every sense, but for all of us.

This year, the 2010 dated American Silver Eagles will be arriving a bit later. The US Mint recently announced that they would begin taking orders from authorized purchasers on January 19, 2010.

This is the latest in a number of changes to normal procedures for United States Mint precious metals coin offerings that began in 2008. Back then the first of many sales suspensions was put into place first for Silver Eagles and later for Gold Eagles and Gold Buffalo coins. The suspensions were generally followed by availability of coins under a rationing program.

Eventually, the collector versions of the Gold and Silver Eagles were impacted when the US Mint began sourcing precious metals blanks exclusively to the production of bullion coins. The 2008 Proof Silver Eagle sold out very early in the year, never to return. The 2009 collectible Gold and Silver Eagle offerings were canceled.

The delay of 2010 Silver Eagle coins seems to indicate that the US Mint may be falling even further behind the curve on fulfilling public demand. As it stands, the silver bullion coins are fresh off of a recent suspension and reimplemented rationing program.